The Road Ahead
by emmymay96
Summary: Rosalie Walsh is the sister of Shane Walsh and the mother of 13 year old Connor Walsh. Her family is all she has left in the world, she finds it hard to let others into her heart. But during the apocalypse she meets a certain Dixon who will change her life forever.
1. Chapter 1: Hospital

" _Sometimes someone comes into your life,_ _so unexpectedly,_ _takes your heart by surprise._ _and changes your life forever"_

Rosalie Walsh is the sister of Shane Walsh and the mother of 13 year old Connor Walsh. Her family is the only thing she has left in the world and when the apocalypse starts she will fight tooth and nail to keep them safe. However amongst all the fighting to stay alive she finds herself feeling things she never thought she would feel again. The question is will she be able to open up her heart again and will he be able to let down his walls for her.

 **Warnings** **\- Violence, Gore & Language **

**Disclaimer** **\- I do not own The Walking Dead, I only own my original characters Rosalie and Connor Walsh**

 **I also have an idea of who I want to play the two OC's in the story**

 **Rosalie Walsh will be played by Jenna Coleman,** **Connor Walsh will be played by Finn Wolfhard**

 **I've had this fanfiction idea for a while now but I was always to scared to post it aha, this is my first fanfiction on here. Please let me know what you think of the story I'm always open to constructive criticism :)**

 **Thank you for checking out this story and I hope you enjoy it!**

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 ** _A/N: Welcome to the rewrite of The Road Ahead. Like I mentioned before the plot will be mostly the same I'm just adding more details and changing some things. From now on I'll be updating this story twice a week. I also changed the cover and I actually really like the new one._**

 ** _Hope you enjoy the first chapter! Let me know what you think :)_**

 ** _\- Emily x_**

* * *

 **Chapter 1 - Hospital**

Rosalie Walsh was rushing round the busy ER department of the Kings County Hospital. She noted how much busier it was than usual as she ran around trying to attuned to five patients at once. Her messy brown hair was falling out of its bun and her scrubs were covered in both dry and fresh blood. She stopped at the nurses station to grab a patients chart that had been left there by mistake.

"Hey Rose!" The nurse behind the station called out to her.

"What is it Chloe?"

"Another person with a bite, that's the third one today" Rosalie watched as a pale elderly man was wheeled down the corridor clutching a bloodied cloth to his hand. "What the hell? That's the fifth one I've seen so far this week"

"I'm telling you it's drugs" Chloe stated as she leaned across the table "I was talking to another nurse from Atlanta and she said it's even worse over there"

"Strange" Rosalie mumbled to herself before she quickly bid farewell to Chloe. she made her way towards her next patients room. The patient was exhibiting a unusually high fever so the doctor wanted her to collect some blood to see what could be causing it.

She entered the room and turned to the man who looked deathly pale and was sweating through his hospital gown. "Hello Mr Robinson my name is Rosalie. I'm just going to take some blood okay?"

"Sure" the man croaked out "do you know what's wrong with me?"

"Not yet sir but when the results come back we hopefully will" Rosalie gave him a reassuring smile as she prepared the needle. A commotion could be heard outside, someone shouting about a gunshot wound but Rosalie ignored it deciding to find out what was going later.

"It's funny you know? I was just walking home from work when all of a sudden this guy jumps me, I thought he was robbing me at first but then I saw that he was trying to bite me...lucky for me a got him off but he scratched my arm pretty good" he lifted up his other arm showing Rosalie bandage that covered his right arm. "Now I'm sat in a hospital bed dying"

"All done sir, I'd try not to worry it's probably just an infection" Rosalie smiled as she walked out of the room to send the blood down for testing. Rosalie lent against the desk as she watched everything rush by in front of her eyes. she was thinking about all the sick people, the ones with the bites and infections. They had to be connected somehow but she wasn't sure how.

She snapped out of her thoughts when she saw a man wearing a police uniform walking down the corridor towards her. She smiled at him but that smile quickly disappeared once she saw his somber face and the puffiness of his eyes. Rosalie quickly rushed over to her brother wanting to know what happened, she saw blood on his uniform and started to panic, quickly she scanned his body for injuries only to let out a small sigh as she realised it wasn't his.

"Oh my god Shane! What happened?!"

"I-I didn't see him, it's my fault I didn't see him" Shane mumbled out tears glistening in his eyes

"Shane what-"

"He shot him Rose, he shot Rick. If I'd just seen him, if I'd just double checked" Silent tears ran down Shane's face as Rosalie pulled him into a tight embrace, her own tears streaming down her face. Her best friend had been shot

"Now you listen to me Shane Walsh this is not your fault okay? You did everything you could. It's not your fault" the two siblings stood silently still clinging onto one another for a couple more moments before slowly parting. Shane ran a hand down his tear stained face clearly too stressed and exhausted to deal with this right now.

"He's in surgery now, doctor said it could take a couple hours at least, it's bad Rose"

"Hey he's gonna be fine, he'll pull through this" Rosalie gave Shane a small reassuring smile. Checking her watch she silently cured it was 6:10pm and shed promised Connor she'd be home by 6. "Damn it, I promised Connor I'd be home by 6 but I don't want to leave you here alone"

"Actually Connors here with Lori and Carl. He insisted that he come with us after he found out about Rick"

"Okay, after seeing how Lori's doing I'll take both boys back to mine. It's getting late and it's been a long day for us all"

"Sounds like a good idea Rose, let's go" Shane guided her to a waiting room not far down the hall. Once Rosalie stepped into the room her heart ached at the sight. Lori was sat staring into space a heartbroken look on her face, her gaze then turned to the floor where Connor and Carl were sat playing a board game although neither looked to be fully invested.

Rosalie caught her sons eye and he immediately jumped up and ran into her open arms. She kissed the top of his head as his arms tightened around her waist, she felt tears staining her shirt and rubbed her sons back "it's gonna be okay sweetie, your uncle Rick's a strong man he'll be just fine" Rosalie glanced up at Lori who gave the woman a small smile.

"Hey Rosalie, do you..have you heard any news on Rick" she asked in a shaky voice.

"No but I can check with one of the nurses. Then afterwards I can take the boys back to mine, it's getting late and they need food and rest"

"Thank you so much. Hey Carl you want to go with aunt Rose and Connor to their house?" Lori asked the little boy who had moved to sit in the chair beside his mother.

"Can't I stay with you mum, I want to see dad" as Lori and Carl continued to discuss the matter Rosalie made her way over to the nearest nurses station to find out any information on Rick.

"Hey Jackie you got an update on a patient named Rick Grimes?" The older nurse scanned the computer in front of her for a couple minutes before turning to face Rosalie. "Sorry Hun looks like he's still in surgery"

"Okay thank you" she rushed back to the waiting room where four sets of eyes turned to her as she walked in "he's still in surgery which most likely means that he won't wake until morning now" Rosalie turned and walked over to Carl kneeling down in front of him "he's gonna be okay and in the morning I'll bring you straight here so that you can see him okay?"

Carl slowly nodded his head, clearly the young boy was too tired to argue anymore. They all said their goodbye before Rosalie and the young boys headed to the car. The journey home was silent as was dinner nobody was in the mood to talk, it had been an exhausting day for everybody. As Rosalie was saying goodnight to Carl he spoke for the first time in hours."Do you really think my dads going to be okay?"

"Of course I do buddy, your dad is one of the strongest men I know. Remember he's super cop, he'll be back up and fighting crime in no time" a small smile made its way onto Carl's face as he nodded his head agreeing with her statement.

Rosalie quietly shut the door to Carl's room and made her way into her own. She sat on the edge of the bed holding her face in her hands as she finally let the tears fall. Her best friend was in hospital fighting for his life she just prayed that he would make it.


	2. Chapter 2: The End Of The World

_**A/N: 100 follows wow I honestly can't believe it, thank you all so much! When I started writing this story I didn't even think I'd get 10 let alone 100. I'm so thankful for all the support it makes me want to write more. That being said I hope you enjoy this new chapter!**_

 _ **\- Emily X**_

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 **Chapter 2 - The End Of The World**

He laid there seemingly lifeless and pale, if Rosalie didn't know any better she would say that Rick Grimes was dead. The heart monatomic beating in the corner was the only thing giving her reassurance that her best friend was still alive.

The last few days seemed to have gone by in a blur for Rosalie, so much had happened that she was still trying to process everything. People had started getting sick, the people with the bites had died but some were saying that they were coming back to life. People were told to stay indoors and avoid all those who were bitten and that the government was apparently handling it. Foolishly Rosalie believed that they would, she believed that it would all be okay.

She had been called into work that morning to help prep the patients for evacuation to a hospital in Atlanta. Connor was left with Lori and Carl despite protests that he wanted her to stay where it was safe.

As Rosalie walked down the corridors of the overcrowded hospital full of doctors and nurses tending to patients outside of rooms due to the fact there were no beds left. Something odd caught her eye a elderly woman was limping out of a room, blood stained her gown. Rosalie was going to help the elderly lady knowing it wasn't safe for her to bed outside the room right now. As she walked towards the woman another nurse beat her too it, but as the nurse tried to guide the woman back to her room she let out a snarl and lunged at the nurse. Rosalie let out a horrified gasp as she saw the woman's teeth sink into the nurses neck. Everyone around them started screaming and panicking as the army officer stationed on the floor called for backup.

"We need backup now!"

"It's too late the hospital is becoming overrun with these things, people are dying left right and centre" the voice through the radio called back causing more people to panic. Rosalie ran and hid behind the nurses station as the sound of bullets started to mix with people's horrified screams. Her hands shook as she pulled out her phone and quickly called Shane, he picked up on the second ring "Rosie? Where are you?"

"I'm in the hospital, 3rd floor"

"Okay I'm already here I'm going to get Rick then I'll come for you okay? Stay where you are Rosie!"

"N-no it's not safe here I'll come find you"

"Damn it Ro-" Rosalie hung up on Shane quickly getting to her feet and running towards the nearest stairwell. Before she got there however she saw Chloe standing against the wall sobbing. "Chloe! Oh god are you okay? Come on I'm going to find Shane and then we'll get out of here" Rosalie grabbed her wrist but Chloe quickly pulled back shaking her head "Chloe? What's wrong? We have have to go".

Chloe just shook her head again "I'm sorry" Rosalie looked at her in confusion which turned to sadness as Chloe rolled up her sleeve revealing a bite mark. "Chloe no...h-how? When?"

"I was checking in on ICU patients this morning I thought he was dead but..." Chloe let out a sad chuckle "guess not hey. Now I'm going to turn into one of those...things"

"No Chloe just because you were bitten doesn't mean-"

"Yes it does! And you know it. Now go find Shane and get home to your boy" Rosalie debated for a moment before giving Chloe a tight hug as silent tears streamed down her face. "I love you" she whispered before letting her go. "Love you to Rose, now go". Rosalie kissed her forehead before turning round and heading towards the stairwell once again. She didn't want to leave Chloe but she knew there was no other choice.

She made it to the stairwell seeing it was full of people running down trying to escape the horrors that were inside the hospital. Rosalie pushed through people as she ran trying to get to the next floor up to her brother and best friend. Once she finally made it she noticed that hardly anyone was up there, she saw people with bullet holes in their heads obviously they had been shot by military. Rosalie looked at the sight in horror swallowing the urge to be sick as she continued on to Rick's room.

Rounding a corner she saw Shane stood leaning against a bed that was pushed up against the door to Rick's room. Hearing her footsteps he looked up at her his eyes filling with relief at the sight of his sister standing before him. "Shane is Rick okay?" Shane just looked at her with tears shining in his eyes. "No" Rosalie whispered as she rushed to the door to Rick's room trying to move the bed out of the way but Shane stopped her.

"Rosalie stop he's gone" Shane held his sister in his arms as she continued to struggle against him, she refused to believe that another one of her friends was dead "he's gone" Shane whispered into her hair as Rosalie broke down into sobs not able to believe that the man she'd known practically her whole life was gone. After a moment of just standing there holding each other tightly Rosalie pulled away wiping her eyes. She knew they couldn't stay at the hospital for much longer and just wanted to get home to her son. "How's Connor?"

"He's fine, he's at home with Lori and Carl packing. We're heading to Atlanta tonight" Shane explained

"Oh god, Lori and Carl how are we gonna tell them about..." Rosalie trailed off starting at the door to Rick's room. "Don't worry about that now let's just get out of here before those things come" Shane guided his sister through the hospital luckily they didn't run into any problems on the way to the car. In the car it took them less time than expected to get back to the Grimes household due to the fact that most of the town were probably already on their way to Atlanta.

Rosalie got out of the car but before she had even shut the door a voice called out to her "Mum!". Rosalie turned round and upon seeing her son running towards her she let out a sigh of relief and for the first time that day she found the strength to smile.

Connor ran into his mothers arms almost knocking her over in the process, he held onto her tightly scared for just the slightest moment that he had lost her. His mother was the world to him and the thought of maybe loosing her...well he couldn't bare thinking about it. He pulled back from her once he noticed that the others had gone inside but that's when he noticed it, the missing person that should have been in the back seat. "Mum where's uncle Rick?" Despite the question Connor already knew that it wasn't good news, the look on his mothers face gave it away along with the crying that he could hear coming from inside the house. Rick was dead. "No no no no" Connor chanted falling back into his mothers arms.

"Sshh sweetheart I know, I know" Rosalie soothed as she stroked Connors hair pulling the sobbing boy tighter into her. "It's going to be okay" but when Connors breathing started getting shallower Rosalie herself began to panic. "Okay let's get you inside"

Rosalie brought Connor inside as his breathing got worse, she sat him down at the kitchen table and kneeled in front of him. "Connor sweetie look at me" she gently placed her hands on the side of his face lifting it up to look at her "everything is okay look it's just you and me okay?"

"You and me" Connor repeated through heaven breaths

"Good now just focus on me and take deep breaths with me okay, nothing is going to hurt you. It's just you and me here"

"Nothing's going to hurt me" Connor repeated as he focused on his mothers breaths and slowly fell into the rhyme of copying them. After a couple more minutes his breathing was completely back to normal. "You okay now?" Connor just nodded as he picked up the glass of water that was placed in front of him by Shane who had entered the room not long ago. Rosalie got up making her way over to him "how are they?"

"Shaken, they're in the car waiting. I think they just want to get out of here" He replied solemnly. Rosalie nodded taking a moment to double check they had everything before going to join the others in the car. Lori and Shane sat up front while Rosalie sat with the two boys in the backseat. The car journey was silent, everyone was too emotionally drained from the loss of such an important person in their lives.

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Hours later and it was currently nightfall as the small group sat in the car stuck on the highway into Atlanta. Rosalie had lost track of how long they'd actually been in the same spot. The silence in the car was not helping with the dark thoughts that kept creeping into her mind. She knew people were dying out there, hell two of her best friends were dead. Rosalie held in the tears that she so desperately wanted to cry, she had to be strong for everyone but most importantly she had to be strong for her son. She didn't know what the future held for them but she would be damned if she let anything happen to him. She would give up her own life for his any day.

"Mommy" a voice whispered to her, she looked to her left seeing her sons saddened blue eyes staring back at her. She brushed some curls off his face and gave him the best smile that she could though she doubted that it was convincing "what is it sweetheart?"

"Can we get out the car please I need some air" Rosalie looked around seeing that other people were doing the same. The traffic hadn't moved in what felt like hours and Rosalie herself needed to stretch her legs so she agreed. "Okay but you stay by me at all times"

"Okay" Connor answered back giving his mother one of those not so convincing smiles that she gave him just moments before. The two of them got out of the car and the other three occupants were quick to follow. No one said anything they all just stood there taking in the cool nighttime breeze. The silence was only broken when Carl asked his mother if they had any food which unfortunately they didn't. While Rick was at the hospital the little family had mostly eaten take out so there wasn't much food at all to bring with them.

A kind looking lady came up to the little group giving them a nervous smile. "Hello I'm Carol, I could get you something I think we have some bars in the car or something"

"Thank you so much" Lori replied looking relieved that her son would be fed. "I'm Lori and this is my son Carl" they shook hands and Carol turned to Rosalie.

"I'm Rosalie and this is my son Connor, thank you so much for your help a Carol" she shook her hand politely when a little girl walked over bringing a smile to Carols face. "This is my daughter Sophia and over there is my husband Ed" she said pointing to a grey haired man by the car who was staring intently at the group. Rosalie didn't like him already the way he was looking at them sent an unpleasant chill up her spine.

Carol walked over to her car only to be stopped by her husband. Rosalie watched the couple talk her eyes narrowing as Carol flinched away from him before nodding and walking back towards them, something was definitely wrong there. "I'm sorry Ed said we ran out"

Rosalie placed a gentle hand on the woman's shoulder "it's okay Carol, honestly thank you for offering"

"Hey" Lori came over "I'm going to see where Shane went, mind looking after Carl for me?"

"Of course Lori you know you don't need to ask me" Lori gave her a greatful smile as she went to go find him. When Lori was out of site the smile vanished from Rosalie's face, something was going on between those two and Rosalie wasn't sure if she liked it. She'd noticed Shane glancing at Lori more than he should, maybe he was worried about her or maybe it was something else. Before she could dwell on it a second longer loud explosions could be heard coming from the city as planes were heard overhead.

"Auntie Rosie what's that sound?" Carl asked as he clutched onto her shirt. Rosalie snapped out of her shocked state when she heard the boys voice. She quickly ushered the boys into the car despite their protests of wanting to know what was happening. They had been through so much already they didn't need to see what was happening beyond the tree line.

5 minutes later Lori and Shane came rushing back to the car both in the same state of shock that Rosalie was in. "What are we going to do now the city is gone?" Rosalie asked the two in a hushed whisper so that the boys couldn't hear.

"I don't know Rosie, we'll just have to find somewhere safe"

Rosalie was about to respond when a old man wonde

red over to them "excuse me I think I know a place, it's secluded and safe for children. It's not near the city"

"Where did you have in mind?" Rosalie asked jumping at the chance to have a safe place for her son and Carl to stay.

"A Quarry"

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The group arrived at the quarry early the next morning. A good number of cars, mainly families, had also agreed to come along mainly because they thought it would be the safest place for their kids. Stepping out the car Rosalie took a moment to appreciate the silence and let it calm her down.

Everyone was getting out of their cars and making sure it was safe and that there were none of those things around. Once it was deemed clear the kids were allowed out. Carl went round to explore a little but Connor stuck by his mothers side not wanting to be too far away from her.

"Okay people!" Shane's voice boomed over all the talking "look I know we're all tired but we got work to do to make sure this place is safe. We should all start by putting our supplies together and getting what tents we have set up. Some may need to share until we have a chance to get more" most people murmured in agreement.

A man with greying blonde hair stepped forward along with a man with a crossbow, Rosalie guessed that was his brother. "Who the fuck put you in charge asshole?"

"No one, I'm just suggesting"

"Yeah well I don't want to be sharing my shit with any of y'all!"

"Listen we've got to work together to stay alive, we've all got to share here otherwise it won't work."

"Yeah and why should I listen to a pig like you, Merle Dixon don't take no orders from pigs" Merle took a step towards Shane as the two men squared off. Rosalie looked to Merles brother hoping he would do something but he just stood there looking bored. Rosalie tutted seeing that no one was going to intervene and pushed the two makes apart.

"Stop it! We need to be working together here it's the end of the fucking world for god sake! We need to work together if we want to survive this!"

"Ooh damn sugar and who are you? A sexy nurse?" Rosalie looked down and her slightly bloodied scrubs forgetting that she hadn't had time to change yet.

"The names Rosalie and if you ever talk to my brother like that again I'll knock you on your ass. Understood?"

"Woah okay little fire cracker ain't ya" he then turned to his brother "come on Daryl lets get our shit sorted" Daryl stared at Rosalie for a second an unreadable expression on his face before he turned to follow his brother.

After the little outburst everyone quickly got to work on organising the camp. Between them they had five tents which was just enough for everyone as at least six people could sleep in the RV but they would definitely need more eventually. Rosalie, Connor, Lori Carl and Shane were sharing a tent. It was a tight squeeze but they all managed to fit.

Once the camp was mostly set up for the night the large group sat round sharing stories and talking about their lives. They knew that tomorrow much work needed to be done but right now they were actually having fun. Rosalie found herself smiling a real smile for the first time in days. She looked around at everyone smiling as Connor rested his head on her shoulder clearly tired from the day's events. Rosalie sat there thinking about the future and even though the world had gone to shit they actually had a chance of surviving, together.

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 **NOTE**

 _let me know what you think :) next chapter is the first meeting between Daryl and Rosalie so look forward to that._

 _Also I made a new cover which I'm definitely sticking with this time._

 **A fan:** _Thank you so much! Hope you continue to enjoy the story_

 _ **Thank you for all the follows, Favourites and reviews!**_

 _ **\- Emily X**_


	3. Chapter 3: A New Life

**Chapter 3 - A New Life**

The first couple of days at camp were difficult but gradually everyone was starting to set into their roles. Mostly men and a couple women did guard duty and patrol of the camp while the women cooked, washed clothes and looked after the children. To her surprise even the Dixon brothers were helping out, well they hunted for fresh meat. Rosalie had to admit that she did not like Merle one bit he was constantly high and tried to sleep with any woman he could. However she wasn't sure how she felt about Daryl, he was quiet but still snappy he pretty much stayed clear of everyone at camp.

As for Rosalie well she was appointed the camp doctor which was a blessing as well as a curse. She loved helping people it was the reason she had become a nurse, to save lives. However she was constantly busy looking at scrapes, splinters and any other minor injury. Understandably everyone was on edge not fully knowing all the different ways the virus could spread so she had to deal with a lot of panicked people and parents. Although she had told everyone that it was only passed through bites and scratches from the dead they still insisted that she doubled checked to make sure.

When she wasn't tending to people Rosalie spent most of her time with Connor either reading or playing board games. Although she was also trying to teach him basic survival skills. She may have felt safe at camp but that didn't stop her from worrying that something could go wrong, if they ever got separated she wanted Connor to be able to look after himself.

Connor was currently wondering around camp while the adults had a meeting about who was going on a quick supply run to the city outskirts. He was hoping that Shane wouldn't let his mother go, the anxiety of not knowing if she'd come back would be too much for him. He knew it sounded somewhat selfish that he only wanted his mother to stay with him but he just didn't want her to get hurt, or worse.

Connor rounded a corner and saw someone sat on a log, Daryl was it? He wasn't sure but he knew he was related to "that asshole Merle" as he mum would say. Connor debated for a moment before making is way over to the man who looked like he was skinning something. Connor stood in front of Daryl not sure what to say.

"What d'you want kid?" The man grumbled startling Connor in the process.

"Um I was just uh wondering...what are you doing?"

"Skinning and gutting squirrels" came his simple reply, Daryl didn't even take his eyes away from the task at hand. Connor stood there awkwardly mumbling a "cool" before sitting down.

Daryl glanced at the kid next to him, he recognised him as that nurse Rosalie's kid. She would probably kick his ass for talking to her son but the young man didn't look like he was going anywhere anytime soon. "What?" He asked gruffly.

"Can I have a go?" Connor burst out following it a moment later with a "please"

Daryl let out a snort of laughter "yeah sure ya mum would love that"

"She would. She's been teaching me stuff, you know how to survive. So learning to skin and gut an animal would be very educational for me." Daryl looked at the boy skeptically before sighing.

"Fine but I ain't letting you do it, not wasting the meat just watch. And if your mum asks it was all your idea" Connor beamed at him as Daryl thought him, the boy was constantly asking questions about everything. Daryl thought he would find it annoying but he actually enjoyed teaching the kid.

A voice startled them both as Daryl was telling Connor about the organs and why it was important to not cut through them. "What's going on here then?" Daryl looked up seeing Rosalie stood there, hands on her hips and eyebrow raised as she looked between the two.

"Daryl was teaching me how to gut and skin squirrels" Connor beamed happily.

"Well that is-" but before she could finishe Daryl interrupted. He knew her reaction wasn't going to be good so he thought he'd save himself the lecture.

"I get it I'll stay away, don't want your son around a redneck piece of trash like me right?" Daryl spat out causing a shocked look to cover Rosalie's face. He expected her to grab Connor and storm away, telling the whole camp what had happened but instead she walked closer crossing her arms and just stared at him.

"Actually I was going to say thank you for teaching him something useful. Lori just wants him to do school work she doesn't agree with me teaching him stuff like this" this time is was Daryl's turn to look shocked, it was safe to say that he was not expecting a thank you. Nobody had ever thanked a Dixon. Rosalie sat down next to Connor "so how much have you learnt"

"Actually I just finished telling him, I would let him try but uh I don't have any squirrel left. I was going on a hunt tomorrow though"

"Mum can go with you" Connor blurted out causing both adults to stare at him. Daryl turned his gaze to Rosalie.

"you hunt?" He was rather shocked, he never expected a girl like her to hunt.

"Uh yeah, my dad taught me"

"Yeah grandpa was great at it. You should see mum with a bow it's awesome!" Connor praised

Daryl seemed to be thinking it over for a moment before nodding "you can tag along, just don't slow me down or I'll leave your ass behind"

"Uh thanks...I guess" Rosalie mumbled. Connor got up quickly after that claiming he was hungry which just left Rosalie and Daryl sat there in an awkward silence. Finally Rosalie decided to break the silence. "Thank you"

"What for?" Daryl asked confused

"For making him smile" Rosalie got up to leave. It was true what she said to Daryl, it had been a while since she'd seen her son smile that brightly. These past few weeks had been hard, the panic attacks, the nightmares where he sometime woke up screaming. Rosalie knew how to make them better and that was to keep him busy it helped to take Connors mind off the new dangerous world that they lived in. Connor was not one to trust easily so when she saw him smiling and talking to Daryl it had completely took her by surprise. She had to admit she was weary of the younger Dixon at first but after seeing Connor smiling she just couldn't hold onto that feeling of mistrust.

As Rosalie walked back into the main camp area she barely had chance to register what was happening. An angry looking Shane stomped towards her and grabbed her arm leading her back towards the woods. "You are not going on a hunt! Especially not with Dixon!" Shane roared at her once he let her go.

"Excuse me? Who said I needed your approval to do anything?!" Rosalie shot back. She would not take being bossed around like that, even if he was her brother.

"People at camp need you! You can't just go running off into the woods with Dixon! You have responsibilities!"

"I'll be gone for half a day I'm sure people will manage to clean there own cuts for a couple of hours!" Rosalie hissed back at him "now is this really about my responsibilities or is it about Daryl?" She wasn't stupid, she heard the venom in Shane's voice when he referred to the Dixon.

"Out of all the people why the hell would you go with him Rosie?! His brothers a fucking drug addict for Chris's sake! He's trash!"

Rosalie was livid, she stepped closer to Shane glaring at him, yet her voice remained calm as she spoke "Daryl Dixon is not his brother, I trust him" Shane scoffed but Rosalie held her hand up stopping him from talking "he was with Connor today, teaching him how to skin and gut animals and you know what I saw? I saw him smile Shane, a real goddamn smile. Tell me when was the last time you saw that" Shane remained silent "exactly, so I'm going to go hunting with Daryl whether you like it or not." Rosalie went to walk away but stopped "and don't you ever do that shit again Shane"

With that Rosalie went back into camp receiving looks from some people who had clearly heard the siblings fight. Rosalie paid them no mind as they whispered, she never cared what people thought of her anyway. Connor was waiting on a log for her looking guilty, she knew he was the one that told Shane obviously not thinking that his uncle would react in such a way.

"I'm sorry mum, do you have to stay here now?"

"Oh sweetie you don't need to be sorry and no I gave your uncle Shane a piece of my mind" she smiled kissing the top of his head.

"Good because I like Daryl. I just wish people wouldn't judge him because of the way Merle is"

"Me too. Now come on let's help out with making tea shall we?" Connor nodded and rushed over to Carol who was preparing everything to see if she needed help. Rosalie couldn't be prouder of her son in that moment, he saw the good in everyone and was more willing than most to give people chances. Even after his father left when he was 10 and the panic attacks started Connor was the one that got Rosalie through it all, without him she would truly be lost. Although they both found it hard to let other people into their little family afraid that they would be left broken again, Rosalie saw the smallest crumble in Connors walls when he was talking to Daryl and that made her smile.

* * *

It was now the next morning and Rosalie was up at the crack of dawn getting ready for the hunting trip with Daryl. Connor asked if he could come too but she refused but she promised that maybe he could in the future. While getting ready she pulled on a pair of skinny blue jeans and a plain tank top knowing it was going to be hot today. She laced up her black boots before heading out the tent and grabbing a hunting rifle that she got off Dale last night. Unfortunately no one had a bow and she had left hers at home.

She caught Daryl just as he was making his way into the woods, "hey!" She whisper shouted

Daryl just turned round and nodded his head in the direction of the woods before he continued walking, Rosalie just rolled for eyes before following after him.

"So Dixon what we hunting today?"

"Just the usual, squirrel maybe a couple of rabbits, not much big game round here"

"Oh okay so I-" but she was cut off by Daryls annoyed voice

"No talkin' you'll scare them away, plus I like it quiet" Rosalie just huffed before falling into step with the hunter.

It wasn't long before she spotted the first rabbit, she put her hand out to stop Daryl before crouching and readying her rifle.

"This ones mine" she whispered looking through the scope, once she had the perfect shot she fired hitting the rabbit square in the eye. She looked up at Daryl with a smug look, she knew he doubted her abilities and was more than happy to prove him wrong. Daryl just stared at here before he continued walking, her smile dropped slightly.

They'd been in the woods for three hours now, she'd caught 2 rabbits while Daryl had her beat with 4 squirrels. It was a silent game that had started between the two and it turns out she wasn't that good at hunting squirrel.

Rosalie was so lost in her thoughts she didn't realise how far behind she was, she also didn't notice the walker sneaking up on her left until it grabbed her sending both of them to the ground. Rosalie let out a scream dropping her rifle, she put her hands out in front of her trying to push the walker away, she was frozen as she looked into its lifeless eyes. She'd never seen one up close before and it was truly terrifying. After a couple seconds she snapped out of it using one hand to hold the walker at bay while she reached into her belt. Her fingers could feel the handing of her knife that she had recently decided to keep on her at all times, she quickly gripped it before slamming it into the walkers skull, it went limp straight away, it's dead weight falling on her. She was frozen she couldn't believe what she'd just done, she was so lost in thought that she almost missed the rushed footsteps heading towards her.

Daryl had noticed that Rosalie wasn't behind him, he felt the slightest bit of worry which grew when he heard her scream pierce the air around him. He ran in the direction he came in he quickly got to her only to see her stabbing the walker on top of her. He was in shock, she was tougher than her had originally thought. His worry started to increase again when he noticed she was unmoving underneath the walker. He quickly rushed over to her roughly pulling the walker off her. He saw he wide eyes and tears stained cheeks and decided to lightly call her name. Her eyes snapped to him and she slowly started to sit up while Daryl checked her for bites

"Did it get ya" Daryl asked while still frantically looking for bites, after finding none her turned to look at her once more "the hell happened?"

It took Rosalie a while to compose herself before answering "I-it just came out of nowhere, it's my fault I just oh my god" Rosalie didn't know what she was doing when she wrapped her arms tightly around Daryls neck, she just needed some comfort right now.

Daryl was in complete shock as she clung onto him tightly sobbing into his shoulder. He wasn't used to this kind of affection, he didn't know what to do so he just sat there with his arms at his sides letting her cry. After a while Rosalie composed herself and pulled away from Daryl. She normally wasn't one to cry but that had really shook her "oh god I'm so sorry, I don't know what came over me, I shouldn't have done that"

"S'alright" he mumbled before quickly getting to his feel and adjusting his crossbow on his shoulder while pulling her knife from the walkers lifeless body. Rosalie quickly followed his lead picking up her rifle, she slowly took the knife was Daryl's hand giving him a small smile and a "thank you"

She sighed while taking in their surroundings "we should uh probably head back now, Shane's probably back from the run now and he'll definitely freak when he see's me"

Daryl let out a huff of laughter before nodding "we should, stay close this time, don't wanna loose ya again" Rosalie just smiled and followed him back to camp not realising how serious Daryl was being, loosing her and hearing her scream honestly scared the shit out of him, though he would deny it until he was blue in the face.

They managed to get back to camp around half an hour later, lucky for them Connor was the first to spot his mum running to her and engulfing her in a bear hug

"I missed you so much, are you okay why are you covered in blood" Connor rambled on when Rosalie spotted Shane stomping towards them.

"What the fuck happened to her?! What the fuck did you do Dixon?!" Shane was up in Daryl's face at this point

"Didn't do nothin'! She got attacked by a walker, killed the thing herself too"

Shane got even more in Darryl's face before Rosalie came between them pushing Shane back "Stop! He's telling the truth Shane! It's my own fault anyway"

Shane stopped glaring at Daryl turning his glare to her instead "what?" He gritted out

"I-I wasn't paying attention, I fell behind, I didn't even hear the walker coming. Shane I'm so sorry, but hey I managed to kill it myself come on you can't tell me that you're not at least a little impressed that your baby sister managed to kill one of those things" she smiled up at him trying to lighten the tense atmosphere, the smile quickly dropping when she saw the disappointed look on his face

"Just go get cleaned up" his emotionless voice cut through her like a knife as she watched him walk away.

She turned to face Daryl "thanks for today, I had fun dispute the whole nearly dying thing" he just nodded before heading in the direction of his and Merle's tent

She sighed before turning to Connor "come on bud lets go get cleaned up huh?" Connor nodded following his mother through camp

Connor broke the silence first "for the record I thought you taking on a walker was pretty awesome" he beamed up at her before Rosalie ruffled his hair, the two laughing as they made their way towards the lake

* * *

 **Note**

 _Another chapter already, I am on a roll with updating my stories now :D_

 _So this is basically the original hunting chapter but I just added a bit onto the beginning. I just loved the original chapter so much that I had to put it in there. Hope you enjoyed it :)_

 _Thank you to everyone that has followed, favourited and reviewed this story so far!_

 _\- Emily x_


	4. Chapter 4: Hello Old Friend

**Chapter 4 - Hello Old Friend**

It had been a week since the hunting incident and Connor hadn't left Rosalie's side. Honestly Rosalie was glad, even though she didn't show it she was scared by what had happened that day in the forest. Her nights had been plagued with nightmares of rotting flesh and skin between blood soaked teeth. However she would put on a brave face around her son and everyone else, she needed to deal with this herself.

Also in the past week the mother and son had also gotten closer to a certain redneck in the camp. Daryl was great with Connor even if he didn't think it. Connor loved to constantly ask him question about hunting and he even got to skin his first squirrel. However there was a downside, Merle. When the older Dixon would come by or sit with them Rosalie found that Daryl would shut himself away, actilng cold and distant towards them both. So they had taken to avoiding Merle and talking to Daryl when he wasn't there.

Shane, now he was a different story altogether. Since her little hunting trip with Daryl they'd been fighting constantly and about everything. If he saw her with Daryl he's send a hateful led glare their way. He even went as far as to tell Connor to stay away from the younger Dixon which caused a massive argument between the two and they hadn't spoken since.

* * *

Sunlight shone through the gaps of the tent making Rosalie slowly stir from her sleep. She slowly sat up and looked to her left seeing that Connor was already up, this wasn't unusual as he usually woke up early to help with chores. Rosalie slowly got ready for the day throwing her hair into a messy bun before pulling on her boots and heading out the tent. She saw that everyone was having breakfast and decided to join them. Grabbing a small portion of porridge she made her way over to the rest of the group and sat next to Glenn.

"Hey pizza boy, how are you today?"

"I'm good thanks Rosie, and please stop calling me that" he sighed

Rosalie patted him on the shoulder saying "no can do"

Her and Glenn had become good friends in the weeks that he'd be staying in camp, they had the same sense of humour and got along great. He was like the little brother she never had, and she loved to tease him. There was a big run into the city today and Glenn was one of the people going, she was worried for him as they all knew how dangerous the city could be but they desperately needed more supplies. She thanked God that others were going with him, hopefully that way he wouldn't get hurt out there.

After finishing her breakfast she walked over to place her pots in the container ready to be washed, she then noticed that a certain redneck was missing from the camp but she quickly remembered why, he was on an two day hunting trip. He had asked her to go but she declined wanting to stay at camp with Connor.

She spotted Shane standing near the cars where the others were getting ready to go. She sighed knowing that she'd have to talk to him at some point. She jogged over to stand beside him "Hey brother, you going with them today?"

Shane glanced at her before replying "nope, gonna stay here, promised I'd teach Carl and Conn how to catch frogs"

Rosalie pulled a face "Listen, are we okay? I mean I don't want to fight anymore Shane"

Shane placed a hand on his sisters shoulder "we're fine Rosie and I'm sorry for fighting"

"I'm sorry too" she gave her brother a hug before jogging over to Glenn to say her goodbyes. Once she got to him she gave him a tight hug

"You be careful out there okay? Come back safe" she pulled away and smiled at him, he smiled back

"Cause Rosie I'll be careful, you'll see me back here in one piece by nightfall" Glenn ruffled her hair while Rosalie gave him a playful scowl, an irritating voice she knew all too well cut through their moment

"What no hug for me sweet cheeks?"

Rosalie face turned to a look of anger, she really couldn't stand the older Dixon brother. She wondered if him and Daryl were actually related sometimes, they were so different.

"Fuck off Merle" with that she gave one last wave to Glenn and turned on her heels to find her son.

Later that afternoon Rosalie and Lori were cutting their sons hair when Shane came and sat down opposite them. Carl was restless, clearly hating having his mother cut his hair for him.

"Can we just go catch frogs now Shane?" Carl whined

Shane chuckled "after your mothers given you a haircut bud"

"What we gonna do with the frogs once we catch them uncle Shane" Connor decided to join in the conversation

"Eat them"

The two boys looked at each other with disgusted looks on their faces "eeww"

Both women laughed at their sons reactions, "I gotta agree with the boys Shane, ew no thank you" Rosalie said still laughing

From beside her Lori mumbles "I'd rather eat miss piggy"

Shane and Rosalie just shared a confused look before bursting out laughing

"That definitely came out wrong" Lori said before joining in the laughter. Rosalie noticed Shane and Lori lock eyes and give each other a look that she wasn't sure of. She'd been suspecting something was going on between them for a while now, but she always pushed the thoughts to the back of her mind. Rick was Shane's best friend surely he wouldn't do that to him?. She knew Rick was dead but refused to believe that the woman could move on so quickly, even if her and Rick were having problems at home before he died. Rosalie shook the thoughts from her head finishing cutting Connors hair, she looked around at all the people doing their daily chores before spotting Amy, Andreas sister who was pacing.

"Amy sweetie, are you okay? She asked in a soft voice

"They're not back yet, they should've been back by now. What if something when wrong" the young girl rambled

Rosalie slowly rose to her feet walking towards Amy and pulling her into her arms "hey sshh, it's gonna be okay, I'm sure they're fi-"

Before Rosalie could finish her sentence they heard the radio go off "Base...base camp...we...help" a panicked voice came through, everyone in camp turned to see what was going on as Dale ran to answer

"Hello? Hello? Can you hear me"

"Shane?...trapped...department store...help" was all they heard before the line went dead

"They said the department store" Lori stated

"We have to go after them!" Rosalie pleaded. Amy was even more panicked than before as Rosalie held onto her tighter trying to calm the young girl

"No way, we do not do that, we do not risk the rest of the group y'all know that" Shane stated.

"So what? We're just going to leave her there?" Amy spat

"She knew the risks like we all do, I'm sorry but we cannot go after them"

Amy broke out of Rosalie's grip and stalked towards Shane slapping him "you son of a bitch!" She yelled before stomping away

Rosalie looked at Shane, disappointment clear on her face "do not give me that look Rosie, I will not risk people's lives"

"Oh so you're totally fine with letting them die then?! They risked their lives to get supply's for us, do their lives mean nothing to you?!" She practically shouted at him

"ENOUGH!" Shane snapped "the decision had been made, you don't like it then tough shit! I will not risk your lives for theirs, end of discussion Rosalie!"

She couldn't believe what she was hearing, did those words really come out of her own brothers mouth? She couldn't even stand to look at him any longer so Rosalie decided to go find Amy. Her mind drifted to Glenn, she couldn't bare the thought of loosing him, he had practically become family to her.

Hours later Rosalie was sat with Amy by the campfire waiting to see if anyone was going to return. Rosalie had almost given up hope until she heard a car alarm going off

"The hell is that?" Shane shouted as the car headed into camp, everyone rushed towards the vehicle. Upon seeing it was Glenn everyone started shouting before Glenn popped the hood so Shane could stop the alarm.

"You crazy driving this wheeling bastard up here? You wanna draw every walker for miles" Shane spat

"Shane I'm pretty sure we're okay, we're practically in the middle of nowhere here" Rosalie said trying to calm her enraged brother

Amy quickly butted in "is Andrea okay?"

"Yeah yeah she's fine, everyone's is, well Merle not so much" he started to say but before anyone could ask questions a van pulled up "new guy, he got us out"

As Glenn said that Andrea came rushing out the van running straight into Amy's arms, both girls sobbing relieved that the other was okay.

Rosalie looked back towards the Van just as a face rounded the corner, a face Rosalie thought she would never see again, Rick. Tears immediately started streaming down Rosalie's face, her hand covering her mouth to stifle her sobs. She couldn't believe it, her best friend was alive and he was here in front of her looking just as shocked as she was. All of a sudden someone shouting "dad" caused the two of them to turn and face Carl, Rick fell to the floor with Carl in his arms, Lori soon joining the reunion. After a couple minutes Rick slowly let go of Carl and Lori only to be knocked back by Connor who had run at him full force crying, Rosalie didn't waist anytime in joking her son.

"God I thought I'd never see you again" Rosalie whispered

"I'm glad I found you" he pulled away looking at the five people he cared about most in the world "all of you"

* * *

Later that night they were all sat round the camp fire listening to Rick tell his story, he had apparently woken up from his coma a couple days ago having no idea what was going on. Rosalie thought it was a miracle that he was still alive after everything that had happened to him but she was grateful to have him with them again.

After Rick finished his story there was silence before Dale spoke "Has anyone given any thought to Daryl Dixon? He's not gonna be to happy when he gets back from his hunt, finding his brother was left behind"

"I dropped they key, it's on me" T-Dog said

"I cuffed him that makes it mine" Rick argued back

"Guys, it's not a competition, plus I think Rosie should be the one to do it" Glenn cut in

Rosalie looked up in shock as everyone's gazes turned to her "what? Why me?"

Andrea was next to speak up "you're closest to him, hell you're the only one in camp that he actually talked to"

Rosalie blushed and looked at her lap "well I guess, but I wasn't there I don't know the full story"

"Merle was out of control, something had to be done otherwise he would've gotten us all killed" Andrea told her before turning to address Lori "your husband did the right thing"

A moment of silenced passed before T-Dog spoke up again "I was scared and I ran, but before I left I managed to chain the door shut, no geeks would be able to get through there. Dixon's alive and he's trapped up there on that roof, that's on us"

He quickly got up and left leaving everyone else in shock at his words. Merle Dixon was alive.

Rosalie was stuck thinking about Daryl, she knew he wasn't going to take the news about his brother being left behind well. She was scared to be the one to tell him, afraid that he'd hate her even though she wasn't the one to leave Merle behind, Daryl's temper was an unpredictable thing. One thing Rosalie was sure of however, was the fact that Daryl would go back to Atlanta to find his brother and she had decided that she was going with him.

* * *

 **Note**

 _Finally an update! So this is pretty much the same as the original chapter I just changed a couple of things so it fit in better. Hope you enjoyed it! I promise I will try to update this more quickly_

 _Question: if I was to write a Rosita/OFC story would you read it?_

 **Springborn, I.C.2014 and Apple Bloom -** _Thank you for your reviews!_

 _\- Emily x_


	5. Chapter 5: Atlanta

**Chapter 5 - Atlanta**

Rosalie didn't manage to get much sleep that night, she was too busy worrying about how she was going to tell Daryl that his brother had been left behind, how was she supposed to tell him that his only family had been left behind?. She sighed quickly getting out of her sleeping bag and getting ready for the day. She stepped out the tent making her way across camp to where Glenn stood.

"Look at them, vultures!" The rest of them men were stripping down the car Glenn brought back yesterday for spare parts, it's safe to say Glenn was not happy about it causing Rosalie to laugh

"It's not funny Rosie" Glenn whined "that was a beautiful car"

Suddenly Rick appeared next to Glenn patting him on the shoulder "maybe we'll get to steal another one someday"

Glenn huffed in response while Rosalie tried to hold in her laughter, she quickly followed Rick as he started to move away "Hey Rick, can I talk to you for a second"

Rick turned around to face her "yeah Rosie, what's up?"

"I know you're going back to Atlanta to get Merle, I wanna come with you, I know what you're gonna say Rick but hear me out okay" Rick silently nodded his head letting Rosalie continue "I'm the only one here that Daryl trusts you'll need me there to calm him down in if something happens, please Rick, I can defend myself just fine, please"

Rick ran a hand over face "what would Shane say? If he-"

But Rosalie cut him off "I don't care what Shane says, he is not the boss of me, I can make my own damn decisions Rick"

Rick sighed "fine, okay but you have to stay in my sight at all times, no exceptions"

Rosalie hugged Rick "Thank you"

They pulled away and Rosalie turned to leave but before she could Rick called out to her "why would you risk your life for Merle Dixon"

Rosalie turned to face Rick a smile playing on her lips "I wouldn't, to be honest I hate the guy" she chuckled before turning serious "but I do care about Daryl and Merle is the only family he has left"

with that she turned around and walked away leaving Rick in shock, he clearly underestimated the friendship between her and the redneck.

Rosalie and Connor were sat by the fire, she was teaching him about snares and hunting, she promised that she'd take him on a hunting trip soon but for now she could just explain everything to him. They were laughing at something Connor had said when all of a sudden screams could be heard from just inside the tree line. Rosalie quickly got up grabbing her hunting knife

"Connor stay here!" She yelled while running in the direction the screams came from. When she finally got there she saw the men beating the body of a walker while Amy and Andrea watched. Dale finally cut the walkers head off making the two sisters flinch, Rosalie put an arm around Amy conforming her.

"Why don't the both of you head back to camp okay?" The two girls nodded before slowly making there way back through the trees. Rosalie walked towards the boys hearing Dale say

"The never come this far up, this is the first we've had this close to camp"

Rosalie stared at the walker body for a moment before asking "do you think more will come now? Should we have a constant patrol?"

Before anyone could answer her they heard a rustling from the bushes, Shane pushed Rosalie behind him before they all raised their weapons. A sigh of relief was heard from everyone as Daryl stepped into view.

Rosalie let out a sigh "thank god"

Daryl looked at them, catching Rosalie's eye for a brief second before turning back to the deer.

"I've been hunting that deer for miles, look at it or chewed on by this diseased ridden, motherless poxy bastard" Daryl said while kicking the walker that had eaten his kill, great he wasn't in a good mood telling him Merle had been left behind should be even more fun now Rosalie sarcastically thought to herself.

"What do ya think? Cut up round this chewed up part right here?" Daryl asked

"Can't risk that" Shane replied

"Well that's a damn shame, got some squirrel about a dozen or so that will have to do" he said showing everyone "you wanna help skin 'em Roe?

She just nodded silently before following Daryl back to camp, her chest tightens slightly as he started calling out for Merle

"Hey Merle! Get ya lazy ass out here! Got some squirrel"

"Daryl wait up!" Rosalie called running to catch up "Daryl stop!" She shouted as she grabbed his arm.

He spun around to face her "what?!"

"There...there was a problem in Atlanta, Merle he-"

Daryl ripped his arm from her grasp glaring "spit it the fuck out Rosalie! Where is my brother?!"

Rosalie took a few steps back in shock, he never thought she'd be scared of Daryl Dixon but in this moment she was.

Rick came up behind her "no easy way to say this so I'll just say it"

"Who the hell are you?!"

"Rick Grimes"

"Well Rick Grimes, is there something you wanna tell me?"

Rick shuffled his feet for a moment before looking up to meet Daryl's intense glare "your brother was a danger to us all so I handcuffed him onto a piece of metal on a roof, he's still there"

Daryl paced for a moments before turning to face Rick "let me process this, your saying you handcuffed my brother to a roof and you LEFT HIM THERE?!"

Rosalie had never seen Daryl so angry, this was a side to Daryl Dixon she never really saw and never wished to see again, it honestly scared the hell out of her, the animalistic look in his eyes.

Suddenly Daryl threw his squirrels at Rick who managed to duck just in time, Rosalie stood there watching in horror as Daryl pulled out a knife and ran at Rick. She couldn't do anything, she just stood there in shock.

Before she knew it Shane had grabbed Daryl from behind putting him in a choke hold and dragging him to the floor

"Choke holdings illegal, you know?" Daryl rasped out

"Yeah well file a complaint"

As soon as Rosalie saw Daryl's face turning red she ran over "Shane stop! He's had enough" but Shane didn't listen

Rick kneeled down in front of Daryl "can we have a calm, rational discussion? Or is that too much to ask?"

Daryl glanced at Rosalie who just nodded her head frantically at him, Daryl gave up struggling and nodded once, Shane letting him drop to the floor

Rosalie rushed over to his side, kneeling down in front of him "are you okay?"

Before she could reach him he pushed her away roughly "don't need ya help woman!"

Daryl quickly regretted his harshness towards the woman who had shown him nothing but kindness, but he swiftly got up not sparing her another glance

"Just tell me where he is so I can go get him"

"He'll show you, isn't that right?" Lori said a hint of bitterness in her voice

Rosalie rose to her feet going to stand beside Rick

"Me and Rosalie are going to go and help you get Merle back"

"What the fuck?! No she is not! I did not agree to this!" Shane stomped over to them

"It's not your decision Shane, we already agree that we're going and nothing you say will change my mind" Rosalie stood with her arms crossed glaring daggers at Shane, she hated how he treated her sometimes.

"Whatever, go risk you life for a douchebag like Merle Dixon" Shane spat back at her

Daryl was walking past with his crossbow "hey choose your words more carefully"

"Oh I did douchebags what I meant" Shane quipped back at him before walking away running a frustrated hand through his hair.

"Well that went better than expected" Rosalie whispered to Rick who just chuckled in response

"Yeah but we still need more people"

"I'll go, I need to do this" T-Dog said as he walked up to Rick, Glenn by his side

"Yeah I'll come too, you'll need someone that knows the city"

Rick smiled at the two men "thank you, I appreciate it, we leave in an hour so grab what you need"

Rosalie found Connor sat by the fire pit drawing shapes in the dirt with a stick"hey bud what's wrong?" She questioned while sitting next to him on the log

"You'll be careful right? Promise me you'll come back? Please" Connor looked at her with pleasing eyes making her chest swell.

"Hey, I'll always come back to you, you know that right, I'll fight to get back to you" she hugged him close while he nodded into her shoulder

Connor turned to Daryl who was sat opposite them cleaning his crossbow "you'll look after her right Daryl?"

Daryl just gave a grunt "sure kid"

"You better" Connor smiled "or I'll kick your ass"

Rosalie tried her best to hold in her laughter while Daryl just grumbled what she assumed was an "I'd like to see you try" at Connor. She enjoyed these moments where they, if only for a moment, forgot what the world had become it was nice.

They're laughter was cut short by Rick yelling "it's time to go!"

Rosalie stood up before giving Connor a hug "I promise I'll come back to you"

She kissed his forehead before running off to get in the truck with Daryl and T-Dog. She was just getting in the truck when Daryl stuck his hand out to help her, she stared at it a moment before grabbing it. Once up she gave I'm a nod in thanks which he returned. Looking out the back she could see Rick and Shane having a heated conversation probably about risking lives or something. She could tell Daryl was getting impatient by the way he was pacing, her theory was confirmed when he honked the horn

"Come on we're waisting light!"

Everyone quickly piled into the truck, Rick and Glenn up front while Daryl, Rosalie and T-dog made themselves comfortable in back. Rosalie would be lying if she said she wasn't scared, she hadn't been to the city yet, hell she'd only been out of camp once in the past month and that was only to go hunting with Daryl.

She was lost in her thoughts that she almost missed Daryl calling her name

"Yeah Dixon"

"I um, I just wanted to" he chewed on the side of his thumb nervously, a habit Rosalie found cute "I'm sorry"

"I'm sorry Dixon, what was that? I don't think I heard you correctly" she smiled clearly teasing him

"I'm sorry!" Daryl snapped "shouldn't have treated ya like that back there, wasn't your fault"

Rosalie giggled causing Daryl to look at her confused "it's okay Daryl, I understand why you acted that way, thank you for the apology though"

Daryl looked away embarrassed, a light blush barely visible on his cheeks that luckily went unnoticed by Rosalie.

"Hey we nearly there yet?" Daryl shouted

"Yeah, we're gonna stop here walk the rest of the way" Rick said while stopping the truck and starting to get out. Everyone else followed behind him, Glenn helping Rosalie get down. They ran as they made their way into the city not wanting to waste anymore time.

"Wait, where are we going first guns or Merle?"

"I think we should get Merle first" Rosalie said at the same time Daryl said

"Merle we ain't having this discussion"

"Daryl and Rosalie are right, Merle first then we won't have to double back on ourselves" Glenn piped up, everyone listened to him as he was the one with the greatest knowledge of the city, he used to be a pizza boy after all.

As they got closer to where Merle was Rosalie found herself getting more and more anxious. What is he was dead? Or what if he wasn't there anymore? What would Daryl do? Rosalie was pulled from her throughs as they entered the department store, they started making their way up to the roof where Merle was. Daryl was about 10 steps ahead of everyone else, Rosalie not too far behind him.

Once they reached the door to the roof T-Dog cut the chains and everyone rushed out onto the roof. When Rosalie heard Daryl's cry she instantly knew it was not good news, her heart was breaking for him. She was making her was over to him when she spotted something on the floor that made her stop her movements in shock, Merles sawn off hand.

Before she could stop him Daryl raised his crossbow pointing it at T-dogs head.

* * *

 **Note**

 _Yes after a year I am finally bringing this story back to life, sorry it hasnt happened sooner. There are loads of edited chapters that i need to upload, i'll probably post every other day until all the edited chapters are done, then every one to two weeks for new ones. Also since I last updated this i have published even more Walking Dead fics as well as ones for, Sons Of Anarchy, Merlin and Game Of Thrones if you want to check those out._

 _Thank you to everyone that has followed, favourited and reviewed this story!_

 _\- Emily x_


	6. Chapter 6: Guns

**Chapter 6 - Guns**

Daryl didn't know what to do when he saw his brothers hand lying there on top of the roof, he wanted to scream and cry. His only brother was gone and he didn't know where, all he had was a goddamn hand.

Daryl's sadness quickly turned to anger, anger at everyone for leaving his brother behind. He quickly picked up his crossbow and aimed it at the first person he saw, T-Dog. He was breathing heavily unable to control the rage that had built up inside of him, out the corner of his eye he saw Rick pointing a gun at his head.

"I will not hesitate, I don't care if every walker in the city hears it" he said with determination in his voice that would've scared anyone else.

But that threat meant nothing to Daryl at this moment, the only thing he saw was red.

Out of nowhere he felt a soft hand on his shoulder, he darted his gaze over to the left seeing Rosalie stood there with a look of worry on her face.

"Daryl, hey, listen to me I know you're hurting right now but there is still a chance that we could find Merle. It looks like he's lost a lot of blood but there's a trail meaning he could still be in the building somewhere, we have to find him as soon as possible so that I can help treat him, okay?"

Daryl stared at her for a moment seeing the pleading yet determined look on her face, his anger slowly fading but not going away completely. The crossbow in his hands slowly lowered and he could hear her sigh with relief.

He walked over to his brothers hand and kneeled down taking a rag out of his pocket and wrapping the hand up. He gestured to Glenn, the young boy turned around allowing Daryl to place the hand inside his backpack.

"Man really? Why'd you have to put it in my backpack?" Glenn whined with a look of disgust showing on his face.

Daryl just ignored him and turned to Rosalie who was clearly trying to hold in her laughter at the look on Glenn's face.

"Did you mean it? Could ma brother still be alive?"

Rosalie's face quickly turned serious "he used something to slow down the bleeding, look at the blood trail there's a lot less than there should be"

Together they started following the trail back inside the store as Daryl listened to Rosalie intently.

"If he found a way to cauterise the stump then he stands a much better chance of survival"

Daryl had to admit that he was impressed with her knowledge of stuff like this, although it did make him realise how much better she was than him. He was just a low life redneck and she was a trained nurse with a kind heart, always putting others before herself yet she was fearless, hell she took down a walker by herself. He often wondered why she chose to befriend him, he was nothing special. He'd never had a woman as a friend before hell he was lucky if he spent more than one night with one, but there was something different about Rosalie, something special that drew him to her.

They had walked through the building following Merle's trail for about 10minutes before they came across the bodies of dead walkers.

"Had enough in him to take out these two sons of bitches" Daryl said while kneeling down to examine his brothers handy work.

"Anyone could faint from blood loss, no matter how strong" Rick chimed in from behind him making Daryl annoyed at the sheriff

"Yeah well no one can kill Merle but Merle" he said while walking into a kitchen area seeing the stove lit and a strange substance near it

"Hey Roe, what's this" he called out to the girl who looked like she was lost in her own thoughts

She quickly jogged in examining the substance before scrunching up her nose at the smell "it's skin, he must've cauterised the stump, given himself a better chance of survival"

"Yeah then he broke out of here" t-dog said from by the broken window

"He left the building? Why would he do that?" Glenn questioned

"Probably thought we weren't coming back for him, I mean y'all did leave him to die!" Daryl was starting to get angry again, now that Merle had left the building it was going to be twice as hard finding him.

"Well we can't just go out on the streets of Atlanta looking for him" Rosalie stated

Daryl turned to her a look of anger on his face "and why the hell not?! That's my brother out there! The hell is wrong with y'all"

Rick got in Daryl's way pushing him back "I get it, he's family, I went through hell to find mine. But we need to think about this. He's hurt, we could help you check a couple of blocks but only if you keep a level head"

Daryl stared at Rick for a moment debating "fine, I can do that"

"Okay but we need those guns, I'm not strolling the streets of Atlanta with just my good intentions" T-Dog said raising his hands

"Hey guys" everyone turned to face Glenn "I think I have a plan, Rosie can you get me the whiteboard from the other room? And a pen"

Rosalie looked at him in confusion before running off into the other room to fetch what Glenn needed, Daryl moving to stand by the door making sure she was safe even though he knew it was there was still something inside him that said he had to keep an eye on her.

When Rosalie got back Glenn drew a rough sketch of where the guns were

"So I'm going to go grab the guns, by myself"

"That's not a good idea"

"I agree with Rick and I don't even like you much" Daryl grumbled

"It's a good idea okay, I'm faster on my own, listen me, Daryl and Rosalie will be in this alley here"

"Wait, why me and Daryl?" Rosalie questioned

"Your weapons are quieter than his gun" he said nodding his head towards Rick "Rick and T-Dog you'll be here"

"Two alleys away, why?"

Glenn sighed "I may not be able to double back, so instead of running to those two I'll head towards you"

"Hey kid, what'd you do before all this" Daryl asked curious about how he knew all this stuff

"Delivered pizzas, why?" Glenn looked at him with a confused face

"Best pizza boy in Atlanta ain't that right Glenn" Rosalie laughed while Glenn gave her a playful glare

"Okay then let's move" Rosalie said why getting up and moving towards the door suddenly turning serious. The way she was ready to face anything surprised Daryl even after seeing her take down a walker her fearlessness still surprised him.

Daryl, Glenn and Rosalie headed out the see door into the alley. Daryl noticed Rosalie pull out her knife as soon as they stepped outside making sure it was safe before heading over to the gate.

"You got some balls for a Chinaman" Daryl remarked

"I'm Korean" Glenn mumbled before running out the gate

"You think he'll be okay" Rosalie whispered from next to him

"Don't worry about it, just keep a look out" Daryl mumbled

Just as he said that a kid no older than 18 rounded the corner, he saw the two strangers and stood there face full of terror. Daryl quickly moved towards the kid pushing him up against the wall

"You seen my brother anywhere? Huh?" But the boy didn't say anything instead he started screaming, calling out to other members of his group.

"Shit! Daryl shut him the hell up!" Rosalie hissed

Daryl snapped back "I'm trying woman!"

Before he could react three men ran into the alley, one of them knocking Rosalie into the wall causing the air to leave her lungs. Before Daryl could react he was being pushed to the floor and beaten, he was used to the pain so he didn't cry out, just curled up.

The beating only stopped when Glenn came through the gate with the bag of guns

"There it is! The guns get them"

All Daryl could do was watch as the men ran at Glenn grabbing him, luckily Glenn managed to throw the bag Daryl's way as he was being dragged to a car that had just appeared at the entrance of the alley.

From the corner of his eye Daryl saw Rosalie get up and charge at one of the men, successfully landing a punch breaking the guys nose. Rage filled Daryl as he saw one of the other men turn round and punch her in the face, knocking her to the ground. He picked up his crossbow but still being injured his aim was off and he hit the guy in the ass. Good enough Daryl thought to himself as he staggered to his feet to run after them

"You sons of bitches get back here!" But it was too late, by the time he got to the entrance of the alley they were gone.

"Holy shit" Daryl turned round to see Rosalie sat up holding her face "guy had a strong right hook"

Daryl moved over to her holding out his hand to help her up

"Thank you" she gave him a small smile but flinched at the pain in her cheek, she sighed "Shane's gonna be pissed"

Before Daryl could respond Rick and T-Dog came running round the corner

"What the hell happened here" Rick looked at Rosalie's face, his expression turning darker "who did this to you?"

"Him" Daryl pointed to the scared kid who had gotten left behind "him and his friends took Glenn, punched Rosalie in the face, damned sons of bitches"

Daryl charged at the boy only to be held back by Rick

"Stop it!" Rosalie shouted "we need to focus on Glenn, we need to come up with a plan to get him back"

She walked over to stand by the kid "plus we need him to tell us everything about his people, we could also use him as leverage to get Glenn back"

Daryl stared at her for a moment before nodding, he knew she was right the kid was the only chance they had at getting Glenn back.

* * *

 **Note**

 _Sorry this chapter is super short even after editing, the next chapters will be longer. I rarely write chapters that are under 2000 words, would you prefer longer chapters? or are you liking these chapter lengths?_


	7. Chapter 7: Rescue

**Chapter 7 - Rescue**

Rosalie couldn't believe that her friend had just been taken, she knew the world was different now but she still couldn't believe people would do something like this, even if it was for a bag of guns. She was sat on a desk watching as Daryl paced around the room, she could tell he was getting annoyed by the kid who was refusing to tell them where his people were.

"Look man we just wanna get our friend back, we don't want trouble" T-Dog said

"Try telling that to the guy who shot my friend in the ass with an arrow, and that crazy chick that broke a guys nose" the boy exclaimed

Rosalie sighed "we only did that because your people beat us and took our friend"

"Hell they took Glenn maybe they took Merle too" Daryl said a bit of hope showing in his voice at the thought they could have his brother.

The kid laughed "Merle? What kinda name is that? I wouldn't even name my dog Merle"

Rosalie saw Daryl was about to lunge at him so she quickly grabbed his shoulder and moved in front of him. It felt like she'd spent most of her day trying to calm him down, he was getting angry at everything.

Daryl stepped out of Rosalie's hold and continued pacing the floor, suddenly he got an idea. He picked up Glenn's backpack and pulled Merle's cloth covered hand out

"Want to see what happened to the last guy that pissed me off? Huh?" Daryl smirked a threw the severed hand at the boy who screamed once he realised what it was. Daryl looked to Rosalie who moved over to squat in front of the boy.

"You ready to tell us now? Because he's not joking"

The boy looked between Daryl and Rosalie before nodding his head

They came to a building, their weapons raised as they lead the boy to the entrance. Rosalie's heart was in her throat she was worried about what they'd done to Glenn and if he was still in one piece. She didn't like they way this could go down, she hoped there would be no bloodshed. She was okay with killing walkers but killing people was a whole different story, she was a nurse meant to help people not hurt them.

As they neared the door three men stepped out, she recognised two of them as the ones that helped kidnap Glenn.

One of the men pointed to Daryl "That's the guy that shot me in the ass" he then turned to Rosalie "and that's the crazy chick that broke Marcos nose"

"Well your men kidnapped my friend, was I just supposed to sit there and do nothing?" Rosalie snapped back getting frustrated, she just wanted to get Glenn and go home.

After a moment of silence Rick Decided to speak up "listen we come in peace okay, we just want our man back"

"And my brother too if you got him"

The person who Rosalie assumed was the leader decided to speak up "he shot Felipe in the ass, she broke a mans nose and you're saying you come in peace?"

"Yes, please just give us our people" Rick pleaded

"Sorry man all out of white boys" he addressed Daryl before saying "but I do got Asian"

Suddenly they heard a noise from the roof, looking up Rosalie saw two men holding Glenn close to the edge, his wrist bound and mouth taped. Rosalie felt her blood boil at the sight, what was wrong with these people? She looked at the leader while tightening the hold on the gun Rick gave her.

"Listen we have one of your men, you have one of ours. In my eyes that's a fair trade" Rosalie paused trying to stop herself from snapping "please just give him back, he's a good kid"

The leader seemed to think about it for a second "doesn't sound fair to me lady, we want that bag of guns our men were going to get"

"Well they ain't yours, you're not getting them" Rick said his voice rising

"Listen we get the guns you get your man, or you come locked and loaded, it's your choice" with that the three men went back inside

T-Dog looked at Rick "we should get back to the store work out a plan"

Rick nodded in agreement as Rosalie sighed, this was not going to end well.

"So what's the plan then?" T-Dog asked, they were all stood around a table, the bag of guns In front of them. They had been thinking about the best way to get Glenn back without anyone getting hurt.

"Guns are worth more than gold these days" Daryl stated "you just gonna give them up for some kid?"

Rosalie looked at Daryl angrily "yes! We don't leave people behind Daryl! He's a part of the group and I will not go back without him, is that understood"

Daryl looked at her in shock at her outburst before nodding once "find then, what's the plan?"

"You can go back, no reason for any of you to get hurt" Rick said while picking up his gun and checking he bullets

"Hell no, I'm not leaving you to face those guys on your own Rick, what would I tell Lori and Carl? I'm not leaving you" Rosalie said and the other two agreed

"Okay then, they said come locked and loaded, so let's go, they either trade men or get nothing" he said while picking up a shotgun

Daryl turned to Rosalie who was checking the ammo in her handgun "you sure you know how to use one of those things Roe?"

"Better than you do Dixon" she smirked back "Shane taught me, it's been a while but I bet I'm still a pretty good shot"

Out of the corner of her eye Rosalie saw Rick smiling at the two of them "what's that look for Grimes?"

"Oh nothing" clearly he was lying but Rosalie just chose to ignore it "okay let's move out"

They arrived back at the garage and the men were waiting for them. They were immediately led into the room where they were surrounded by men. Rosalie held onto her gun tighter seeing how many people were surrounding them, she didn't like how outnumbered they were but chose not to show any fear. She raised her gun higher aiming it at the men around her, she didn't want to shoot anyone she didn't want to be a killer, but if they wanted Glenn back she knew they had to mean business.

"I see my guns" Guillermo said while walking forward "but they're not all in the bag"

Rick looked at all of them before cutting the boy loose and shoving him towards the leader "you have your man, now we want ours"

"You know what? I'm gonna feed your boy to my dogs, they're the evilest sons of bitches you've ever seen! Now I want my guns" Guillermo demanded.

"You're mistaken about these being your guns, you said come locked and loaded? Well we did" everyone suddenly went on the defensive raising their guns, it was a tense few moments not knowing what was going to happen. All of a sudden a voice cut through the tense silence

"Felipe! Felipe!" An old woman came out of nowhere startling Rosalie, where the hell had she come from? The old woman suddenly noticed the strangers with guns.

"Who are these people? Don't you take Felipe! He did wrong in the past but he's good now"

"No we're not here for him mam, we're just looking for our friend" Rosalie gave the older woman a smile trying to show her that they weren't a threat. The old woman looked at Rosalie a moment before smiling

"Ahh the Asian boy? Yes yes come I'll show you where he is" she quickly grabbed Rosalie's hand and started to drag her through the building, leading her out the back door and up some stairs, the old woman turned to Rosalie

"So is this boy your boyfriend?"

Rosalie spluttered before quickly saying "oh no no no! He's just a friend! More like a little brother really"

Rosalie swore she heard an angry growl come from Daryl who was behind her but chose to ignore it, must just be pissed that it's taking so long she thought to herself.

They finally entered a building and made their way down a long hallway, the place looked like some kind of nursing home. They arrived at the end of the hall and were lead into a large room where Rosalie could see Glenn standing

"Glenn!" She exclaimed before running to hug him "are you okay?"

Glenn pulled away "I'm fine Rosie, turns out they weren't so bad"

"Man we thought you'd been eaten by dogs"

Glenn looked at T-Dog with a confused expression before pointing behind him at the small dogs who looked like they wouldn't hurt a fly "umm you mean those dogs?"

Rosalie couldn't help but laugh at the situation, she was just happy that everything seemed to have worked out for the better, Then They saw Rick and Daryl enter the room after going to talk with Guillermo, Daryl looked pissed so Rosalie went over to him.

"Hey, everything okay" she asked placing her hand on his arm, feeling him tense at her touch she slowly removed her hand feeling embarrassed.

"Fine, Rick just gave away half of our guns and ammo" he grumbled

Rosalie sighed turning to look at the other people in the room "yeah well they need them just as much as we do, they have people to protect too"

Daryl just grumbled as Rosalie sighed "come on we need to get back to camp, it'll be getting dark soon"

Walking the streets of Atlanta back to the van everyone was quiet, lost in their own thoughts about what had happened today. Rosalie just wanted to get back and see Connor, she knew he would stick close to someone but that didn't help lessen her worry, she always hated leaving him even if Shane was there. She had found that since the apocalypse had started that her and Connor had grown even closer, being a single parent in the normal world was hard, being a single parent at the end of the world was even harder.

She was snapped out of her thoughts when they arrived at the place they had left the van, only to discover that it wasn't there anymore. Rosalie sighed knowing that the only way home now was to walk

"I don't understand, who would take it?" Glenn panicked

"Merle, he's gonna be taken some vengeance back to camp with him" Daryl answered

"Well then, looks like we better get a move on boys, we're loosing daylight" Rosalie said walking ahead of them all, she just wanted to get back to her son and get some rest.

As they were walking up the hill back to camp Rick fell into step with Rosalie

"Hey Rosie, you okay?" He asked a concerned look on his face

"Yeah, I just wanna get back to Connor, leaving him for this long his making me anxious"

"Hey" Rick placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder "I'm worried about Lori and Carl but I'm sure they're-"

But before Rick could finish they heard gunshots and screaming coming from camp,

"Oh my god" Rosalie breathed before sprinting the rest of the way to camp. Once she got there she saw walkers, dead bodies and blood, so much blood. She scanned the area looking for Connor, not being able to spot him straight away she panicked.

"Connor!" She shouted as she ran through camp looking for her son "Connor! Connor!"

"Mum! Mum! Where are you?!" She heard Connor shouting nearby and let out a sigh of relief, upon spotting Connor stood next to a bush her blood turned cold, a walker was coming right at him.

She started running towards him, quickly trying to get her gun ready to take the shot, she screamed as she saw the walker was about to bite him. Suddenly the walker fell to the ground with an arrow stuck out of its head.

Rosalie ran to Connor pulling him into a tight hug as he sobbed into her shoulder. She looked around seeing Daryl with his crossbow raised, he made eye contact with her tear filled eyes and she mouthed a "thank you" to him, he gave her a nod in return.

"Come on hun, we need to go to the RV with everyone else" Connor nodded his head but refused to let go of his mother as they made their way to the RV, dodging dead bodies. When they made it to the RV the last shot rang out, all the walkers were finally dead. The camp was now filled with the sounds of people crying out of fear and the loss of their loved ones and friends.

Rosalie held Connor closer to her not wanting to ever let him go again, she was so shaken by what almost happened to him. She couldn't express in words how grateful she was for Daryl Dixon at this moment in time. She looked around camp seeing the dead bodies of friends mixed with those of walkers. Everyone in camp looked exhausted, this was going to be a long night.


	8. Chapter 8: Moving On

**Chapter 8 - Moving On**

The sun was just starting to rise and everyone was already busy cleaning up. After the attack last night no one could sleep, they all stayed in or near the RV out of fear that more walkers would come. Rosalie was sat on the steps of the RV, a sleeping Connor in her arms. He hadn't let her go and she was glad almost loosing him had shown her how dangerous this new world truly was. She needed to have a word with Shane, she was pissed at him, he was supposed to be looking after Connor but he seemed more interested in protecting Lori and Carl than his own nephew.

"Mum?" A soft voice called breaking her out of her thoughts

"Hey buddy, how you doing?" She said softly stroking his hair, he looked tired and scared. It broke Rosalie's heart to see him like this.

"I'm okay, just hungry"

"Why don't you go inside the RV and ask Carol to make you something okay, I'm going to go start helping clean up camp" as she slowly started to stand a small hand quickly grabbed her wrist making her turn round

"No! Please don't leave me!" Connor cried

Rosalie sighed knowing that she couldn't leave him like this "okay, how about I go get us some breakfast and while I'm cleaning you can sit and read, that sound good to you"

He thought about it for a second before nodding his head slowly. Rosalie made her was into the RV giving Lori and Carol a small smile as she reached for two cereal bars that were on the counter.

"How's he doing?" Lori asked

"He's okay considering what he went through, won't let me leave his sight now" she sighed "I never really realised how dangerous this world was until I almost lost him...if it wasn't for Daryl" she couldn't continue as tears started welling up in her eyes. Lori quickly got to her feet pulling her friend into a hug

"Sshh Rosie it's okay, he's okay. Now go back out there before he starts to worry" Rosalie nodded, thanking Lori before heading outside seeing Connor sat near the fire pit reading a book.

"Hey Conn, here" she handed him the cereal bars before sitting down next to him

"Are you not eating anything" Rosalie shook her head as go or just sighed holding out one of the cereal bars to his mother "you need to eat, please" she sighed before grabbing the bar from him. They are in silence as Connor continued to read his book. Rosalie saw Shane enter camp and got up ready to talk to him

"I'm just going to talk to uncle Shane, I'll be back in a minute okay?" Connor nodded his head before turning back to his book.

Rosalie quickly stomped her way over to Shane a look of determination on her face, Shane saw her coming and knew he was in trouble

"Rosalie I don't have time for this right now, I'm busy"

Rosalie barked out a laugh "oh like you were too busy to look after Connor last night? He nearly died Shane! But you were too busy looking after Lori and Carl weren't you? While your own nephew was nearly eaten alive!"

"Well if you'd been here and actually been a good mother than he would've been safe! So don't put that blame on me Rosalie because you know it's your fault that your son nearly died!"

Shane didn't even see it coming, he just felt the sting of the slap which also caught the attention of the rest of camp.

"You piece of shit! Don't you dare put the fucking blame on me! I needed to be out there, I needed to help! I trusted you with my sons life so don't you dare put that blame on my Shane. I don't know what's gotten into you but your not the same man, you're changing"

Shane laughed "look around Rosalie! The world is fucking changing and we need to change with it, that's how it is now!"

"Fuck you Shane" with that Rosalie stormed away from Shane heading towards her tent, she needed time to cool off.

Shane looked around camp seeing everyone watching him, he caught Connors eyes the younger Walsh glaring at his uncle. Shane sighed knowing he should apologise but he was too angry right now.

Rosalie was sat in her tent tears streaming down her face, Shane's words had gotten to her, maybe she was a bad mother she should have been here to look after him.

Her thought were interrupted as she heard someone outside her tent, she quickly wiped her eyes before unzipping the tent and stepping out. To her surprise it was Daryl who stood there looking nervous

"Ya okay? I heard what Shane said"

"I'm fine, maybe he was right though, I'm a terrible mother" she ran a hand through her hair out of nervousness

"Nah, you did what you thought was right and ya boy knows that, don't listen to Shane he's a dick"

Rosalie laughed "thanks Daryl for everything, I owe you so much for saving Connors life"

"Wasn't nothing anyone else wouldn't have done" he said nervously shuffling his feet.

"Well thank you" Rosalie leaned forward a place a quick peck on Daryl's cheek, Daryl's face started to turn red as he looked down to the floor trying to hide it. He wasn't used to this kind of affection, or any affection at all for that matter.

After a moment he composed himself before looking back up at Rosalie "ya wanna help me clean up camp?"

Rosalie nodded before happily following Daryl back to camp, he may act all tough around everyone else but with her he was different she felt like he was slowly letting her see another side of him, a side only she got to see.

When they got back to camp they noticed Rick, Shane, Lori and Dale were having a hushed discussion and decided to go over to see what it was about.

"Hey guys, what's wrong?" Rosalie asked going to stand next to Dale, she felt Shane's eyes on her but ignored him.

"It's Andrea, she hasn't left Amy's side all night, we're worried that she'll turn soon" Rick answered her

"Girls a time bomb we should just put a bullet in her head and be done with it" Daryl's response shocked Rosalie, how could he be so insensitive?

"You can't be serious? We should let Andrea deal with it, it's her sister let her grieve for God sake Daryl" Rosalie put her hands on her hips glaring at the man beside her.

"Whatever" Daryl mumbled before walking off to finish his job, Rosalie sighed thinking about how sweet Daryl could be one minute then the next he's angry again, it was tiring.

"Hey Rosalie can I-" Shane started to say but Rosalie wouldn't let him finish, she quickly walked away heading towards Glenn and Connor who were helping carry the bodies of their friends that were to be buried.

"Hey Conn, you don't need to do that, why don't you go back to reading or see how Carl's doing?" She said stopping beside Connor and wrapping an arm around his shoulder.

"It's okay mum, I want to help, I just need to take my mind off everything and all Carl wants to do is play games, I just need to help" he looked up at her "please?"

Rosalie sighed she didn't want him to be around all this, she wished the world would go back to the way it used to be. She knew that wasn't going to happen anytime soon though and this was the life her son was going to have to have now, it made her sad that his childhood would be filled with death but at least they still had each other.

"Ok fine, but I'm helping" she was about to pick up the legs of the dead body when she heard Jacqui shout

"Jim's bit! A walker got Jim!"

Everyone around camp suddenly froze and turned to face Jim who was looking wide eyed and scared at everyone as they started to crowd around them. Rosalie pulled Connor behind them as Daryl started shouting "Show it to us!"

Jim started to panic and picked up a shovel swinging it around to make sure no one would come near him, Rosalie stepped back with Connor in her arms scared of what Jim might do next. Out of the corner of her eye she was T-Dog sneaking up behind Jim, he quickly grabbed him from behind making Jim loose his grip on the shovel. Daryl quickly rushed over pulling up Jim's shirt. Rosalie let out a gasp at seeing the bite on his chest.

"I'm okay, I'm okay" Jim repeated over and over again as if he was trying to convince himself. But he knew as did everyone else around camp that getting bit was basically a death sentence.

Jim was sat by the side of the RV while the rest of them stood in a circle discussing what to do about it.

"I say we put a pick axe in his head and be done with it"

"You can't be serious? That's a mans life your taking about Daryl, we can't just kill him" Rosalie argued

"What? You want to wait until he turns and kills us all?" Daryl narrowed his eyes at her

"Look" Rick butted in "I heard the CDC was working on a cure, if we get Jim there then he stands a chance"

Shane laughed "yeah sure Rick, look we heard a lot of things but that there is a stretch man, we should go to fort Benning"

"I hate to say it but Daryl might be right" Rosalie turned and looked at Dale in shock.

"What? Jim is a human being Dale, we can't just go over there and kill him!" She practically shouted, were these people seriously suggesting that they just kill him? How was that right?

"You can stand here arguing all day, I'm gonna do what needs to be done!" Daryl shouted before picking up the axe and running towards Jim.

Rosalie stood there in shock not believing what she was witnessing. Rick quickly rushed over pointing his gun at Daryl's head

"We don't kill the living"

"Funny coming from a man pointing a gun at my head" Rick and Daryl had a stare off before Daryl lowered the axe realising that Rick wasn't going to back down on the subject.

"You know what?! Y'all had this coming! Leaving my brother for dead! This is what you get!" This seemed to snap Rosalie out of her shocked state, she quickly walked over to Daryl shoving him backwards out of anger.

"You son of a bitch! Don't you dare say that! My son almost died last night, would he have deserved this?! Huh?!" She pushed him again as Daryl looked at her in shock "don't you dare say that! These were good people, no one deserves to die like this! Get your head out your ass Daryl and realised that what happened to Merle was nobodies fault but his own"

With that she stalked off over to Jim leaving Daryl in a state of shock not knowing what to make of her outburst. He felt like a dick, her son had almost died and he was saying they deserved it, he looked around seeing that everyone was staring at him. He huffed before making his way over to his tent not wanting to see anyone right now.

Rosalie helped Jim onto the bed in the RV before going to get the first aid kit. Sitting down next to him she started to clean and bandage the bite. She wasn't sure if the CDC was their best bet but if it meant getting Jim the help he needed then she would go.

"Thank you" Jim whispered breaking Rosalie out of her thoughts "I'm not sure I'm worth waisting medical supplies on"

"Hey, don't say that. There's still a chance if we can get you to the CDC, don't listen to Daryl he doesn't know what he's talking about"

He smiled slightly at her "what Shane said this morning, it wasn't true. You're a great mother and a great person, you've done so much for everyone in this group, so thank you"

Rosalie smiled at Jim "no need to thank me Jim, I just can't sit back and let people suffer when I can do something to help, now you need to rest" she said placing a cold towel on Jim's head as Jacqui came in.

"I'll take over, you should go out there, they're discussing the CDC"

"Thanks Jacqui, just make sure to keep dabbing his forehead to keep his fever down, anything happens call me okay?" She nodded as Rosalie started to make her way out the RV, just as she reached the door she heard a gunshot. Slamming the door open she saw Andrea sobbing as she held a dead Amy in her arms.

* * *

After the funeral for their friends they all headed back to camp, Andrea heading straight into the RV not wanting to see anyone right now. Rosalie couldn't imagine how she was feeling, she wanted to conform her but decided against it.

"Alright listen up everyone!" Shane shouted to get the whole camps attention "I've decided to go with Ricks idea, we'll leave for the CDC in a couple hours so pack up your stuff and then we head out, we need to be there before dark"

When Shane was done everyone headed off to collect their things. Rosalie walked to her tent and saw Connor packing his bag. She gathered all her weapons placing them on her belt and rolling up her sleeping back clipping it onto her backpack. She went to go take down the tent when she felt a presence behind her, she turned round seeing Daryl standing there.

"Need any help?"

Rosalie looked at him for a moment before slowly nodding, they both got to work at taking down the tent. Rosalie looked over at Daryl a small smile appearing on her lips,

"This your way of apologising Dixon?" He just looked at her and grunted before turning his attention back to the task at hand. Rosalie laughed softly, she knew Daryl wasn't good at words but she knew he was sorry otherwise he wouldn't be here helping her.

After packing the tent away Daryl turned to Rosalie "you and Connor wanna ride with me?" Rosalie looked at him shocked "it's just I know you and Shane aren't on speaking terms and everywhere else is gonna be full"

Before Rosalie could even answer Connor jumped in "we'd love to, right mum?"

Rosalie nodded "yeah sure, thank you Daryl"

They made their way towards the cars, Connor running over to Daryl's truck and throwing his bag in the back.

"Wow cool, is that your bike Daryl?"

"It was Merle's" he gruffly answered

"Can I ride it?"

"No!" Daryl and Rosalie answered at the same time causing Connor to pout

"Aww come on! I'll be careful promise"

"No way in hell kid, don't want you crashing it, maybe when your older" Daryl said ruffling Connors hair

Rosalie smiled at the interaction, she was happy that Connor liked Daryl. He needed someone to look up to apart from Shane and he could learn a lot from Daryl.

"So you riding with Dixon then?" A voice said from behind her

"Yeah, got a problem with that Shane?" She turned around to glare at her brother

"Yeah, you should ride with me, it'll be safer"

Rosalie barked out a laugh "no thanks, I'd rather ride with Daryl, he's better company, now if you'll excuse me I think I better rescue Daryl before Connor talks his ear off" with that she walked away leaving Shane once again angry at his sister for choosing that redneck.

Everyone was stood around their cars having packed everything and ready to go.

"Okay for those with a CV we'll be on channel four, if you don't have one just honk once and we'll all stop" Shane explained

Everyone nodded before Morales spoke up "we're not going, we have family in Birmingham, we wanna take our chances finding them"

Rosalie went over to them giving each member of the family a hug and wishing them good luck on their journey. She saw one of the little girls hand Sofia who was crying a doll, it was emotional to watch. Shane walked over handing them a gun and some ammo for the journey.

After all goodbyes were said they all headed to their cars, Rosalie slid into Daryl's truck after Connor who was sat in between her and Daryl. Daryl started the truck as they started their journey towards the CDC.

Ten minutes into the journey Connor broke the silence "you got any CD's in here Daryl?"

"Yeah, compartment"

Connor opened the compartment pulling out the CDs and looking through them "It's all country music? Do you have anything else?"

"Nah kid, just pick something already"

Connor huffed before picking a Jonny Cash CD and putting it in the playing."guess this will have to do, he's one of mums favourites"

Daryl turned his head to face her "really? Mine too" his lips curled up slightly in an almost smile.

"Yeah, he's one of the best country singers out there" Rosalie smiled as her favourite song "Hurt" came on. Being sat here with Daryl and Connor just felt so natural to her, she hadn't felt this way in a long time.

About an hour into the journey the cars stopped, Daryl let out an annoyed huff before stopping the truck as he and Rosalie got out the car, "stay here okay Conn we'll be back soon"

She slammed the door shut before making her way over to the rest of her group. Turns out the radiator hose on the RV had broken and Dale couldn't fix it, luckily Shane spotted a gas station about a mile away so he and t-Dog decided to go and see what they could find. Once they left Jacqui came out the RV in a panic

"Y'all, Jim it's bad"

Rosalie and Rick rushed into the RV hurrying to Jim's side, Rosalie noticed straight away that his condition was much worse, the fever had taken hold.

"Rosie is there anything you can do?" Rick questioned

Before she could answer Jim spoke "n-no don't waste anymore supplies on me, I'm done"

"No Jim, don't say that" she grabbed his hand squeezing it softly

"No you need to leave me, I won't make the trip, please I just want to be with my family, please" he pleaded with them

Rosalie turned to Rick who had a conflicted look on his face "okay, but only if you're sure this is what you want"

"It is, I need to be with my wife and kids now" he smiled at Rick "don't blame yourselves you did everything you could"

Rosalie squeezed His hand one more time before following Rick out of the RV. Once they got outside She saw that Shane and T-Dog had returned. Rick explained the situation to everyone and they all agreed that if its what Jim wanted then it's what they'd do. Rosalie wasn't completely happy with it, watching Shane and Rick carry Jim towards a tree she felt guilt, guilt that she couldn't have done more for him. When it was her turn to say goodbye she kneeled in front of him

"I'm sorry that I couldn't do more to help you Jim, you don't deserve this" tears pooled in her eyes

"You did all you could Rosalie, don't blame yourself for this please, your a great person, now go look after that boy of yours" he smiled at her as she kissed his cheek

"Thank you Jim"

Daryl watched her say goodbye to Jim and then make her way back to his truck, he went over to Jim and nodded in thanks for everything he'd done for the group. He was about to walk away when Jim called out to him

"Take care of her okay, her and that boy, I can see you care about them" Daryl just looked at him before giving him a small nod before heading back to his truck.

After another hour of being on the road Rosalie had fallen asleep, her head leaning against the window. This left Connor and Daryl to sit in a somewhat awkward silence before it was broken by Connor

"You like my mum don't you?"

If Daryl had been drinking at that moment in time he would've choked "what you talking about kid"

"I see the way you look at her, you like like her. But don't worry she looks at you the same way" Connor said giving Daryl a big smile

"You don't know what you're talking about, you're just a kid" Daryl said he didn't like Rosalie like that, he just saw her as a friend, didn't he?

"Hey! I'm 13 so I'm technically a young adult not a kid, plus I'm not stupid I can tell when two people like each other" Connor gave Daryl a smug smile

"Whatever kid" Daryl grumbled

Connors smiling face suddenly turned serious "just know that if you hurt her I will personally kick your ass, I can't see her hurt again" he whispered "after dad left she was broken, she thinks I didn't notice but I did, I can't see her like that again"

Daryl turned to Connor wanting to ask more but decided against it, it wasn't his place to ask these things. He saw the sad look on Connors face "don't worry kid, I won't do anything to hurt your ma"

"You better" Connor replied before the car fell into silence once again.

Rosalie was awoken by Connor tapping her shoulder, she stretched out before looking out the window realising that they had finally arrived at the CDC

"You ready to go?" Daryl's gruff voice asked

She nodded before slipping out the car and grabbing Connors hand to make sure he stayed close to her. The smell of the rotting bodies made her gag and she covered her nose to try and block out the awful smell of rotting flesh. The group quickly made their way to the shutters, upon seeing the place was locked down they started to panic

"We can't be here after dark, not this close to the city" Lori said while pulling Carl closer to her

"Rick this is a dead end! We need to go to fort Benning"

"That's over 100miles in the other direction Shane, we don't even have enough fuel to get there" Rosalie said

Suddenly Daryl shouted "walkers"

With the CDC being a dead end and them still arguing where to go the group started to panic

"You stay close to me Roe we'll head back to the truck" Daryl said while firing a bolt at a walker that was getting to close.

"Wait! The camera it moved" Rick yelled

"Nah man you just imagined it or its automated or somethin', man we need to go!" Shane yelled while trying to pull Rick away, Rick got out of Shane's hold and started banding on the doors

"Please! You're killing us! We have families here, we won't survive the night! Please" Rick pleaded

Rosalie looked at her best friend with a sad expression, she knew how much he wanted this to work, hell she had wanted it too but it was a dead end and they needed to get out of there or they'd all be dead.

"Connor stay close, we're gonna make a run to the car and-" but before she could finish the doors suddenly opened and she had to cover her eyes due to the blinding light

"Holy shit"

* * *

 **Note**

 _Finally another chapter edited. I love writing the Dary/Rosalie/Connor moments so much! I'm going to try and get more chapters edited over the weekend as well. i've been busy this week, it was my birthday yesterday and i'm offically 23 now wooh!_

 _Have any of you watched Stranger Things S3 yet? I need to talk about it with someone and cry lol_

 _Thank you to everyone who has Followed, Favourited and Reviewed this story!_

 _\- Emily x_


	9. Chapter 9: 20 Questions

**Chapter 9 - 20 Questions**

After the shock had worn off everyone quickly headed into the building keeping their weapons high just in case. At first they didn't see anyone, they all jumped once they heard a voice

"Is anyone infected?"

Rosalie looked up seeing a man pointing a gun at them, he was wearing a lab coat so she assumed he was one of the doctors here. Regardless of who he was Rosalie was still cautious so she pulled Connor closer to her, protecting him in case something happened.

"One of our people was" Rick was the one to answer "but he-he didn't make it"

Rosalie looked down feeling guilt and sadness over Jim's death, if only she could've done more to help. She felt a hand squeeze her on and looked to her side seeing Connor looking at her with sad eyes. She tried to give her son a small smile that they both knew was fake.

"What do you want?" The man asked

"A Chance" There was hope in Rick voice, hope that this could be the place that saves them.

"That's asking an awful lot these days" the doctor sighed "you submit to a blood test, that's the price of admission"

Everyone nodded agreeing that it was fair, they were all just happy that they had found somewhere safe. The boys quickly made their way back outside to grab the bags, Daryl came back first handing Rosalie and Connor their bags. Rosalie gave him a "thank you" as they started to follow Jenner to the elevator.

Once inside they all stood in a somewhat awkward silence, Rosalie was squished in between Daryl and Connor. She had a bad feeling about this place, she wasn't sure why but Jenner made her feel uneasy.

"Docs always going around packing heat like that?" Daryl was the first to break the silence.

"They were lying around so I decided to familiarise myself with them" he looked around at all of us "you all seem harmless enough, except you" he pointed at Carl "I'll have to keep my eye on you"

Carl along with a couple of other laughed softly while Rosalie smiled, this place may have made her feel uneasy but at least it was somewhere safe for the kids, she just hoped that it would last.

After the elevator came to a stop they all stepped out and headed down a long hallway. They were underground which clearly made a couple of people in the group. Rosalie included, feel uncomfortable. They made it to the end of the hallway and stepped into a room where some equipment was set up.

"Okay, I'll call you one by one to get your blood done, the rest of you can take a seat" Jenner called out

Rosalie took a seat next to Connor as Daryl leaned on the table beside her. She sighed running a hand through her hair, she was exhausted from not sleeping in almost two days, she just wanted to get this over with and get some sleep.

"Ya okay" Daryl said from next to her

She looked up at him about to answer when Jenner called her up for her turn. She slowly walked over to him sitting down in the chair

"So what's your name" he asked while wrapping a band round her arm

"Rosalie"

"Well Rosalie hope you don't mind needles" he said picking on up

"I've been a nurse for almost 10 years now, needles don't bother me anymore"

Jenner just nodded at her before taking the blood. Once done he placed a plaster on her arm before signalling that she could go sit back down. While standing up she found herself getting light headed and she ended up staggering backwards into someone's chest.

"She okay" Jenner asked

The voice that was holding her which she quickly realised was Daryl said "it's just exhaustion, she hasn't slept in days"

Jenner nodded as Rosalie looked at the rest of the group who had concerned looks on their faces, all except Shane who was glaring at Daryl, she didn't know why her brother hated him so much and honestly she didn't care. She was still pissed at Shane after everything he said to her back at the quarry.

After everyone had their blood taken and Jenner said it was all clear everyone agreed that it would be a good to eat something as none of them had eaten properly the past two days after the attack. The group made their was into a room with a large table. T-Dog cooked everyone a wonderful dinner and Shane found the alcohol stash. Rosalie reached for the whiskey at the same time that Daryl did

"Didn't peg you for a whiskey kinda girl Roe"

Rosalie laughed "well there's a lot you don't know about me Dixon"

She poured herself a glass and downed half of it in one gulp, she looked back over at Daryl giving him a smirk, he just chuckled "damn girl" before taking a swig from the bottle.

Everyone was having a great time and laughing with each other, Rosalie couldn't remember the last time she laughed like this it was definitely before the world turned to shit. She could feel herself getting slightly drunk and the fact that Daryl kept refilling her glass was not helping.

"You know in Italy and France children have a little bit of wine" Dale laughed

"Well when Carl is in Italy or France he can have some then, right Rose" Lori look over at Rosalie hoping she'd agree

"Well Connor tried some once, it won't hurt Lori come on, I bet he'll hate it anyway"

"Yeah the stuff is disgusting, I don't know how mom drinks it" Connor added causing everyone at the table to laugh

Lori sighed giving up and letting Dale pour some wine into Carl's glass, the whole room went silent as they waited for Carl's reaction to the wine. He slowly took a sip before pulling a disgusted face while exclaiming "yuck!" Causing all the adults to laugh and Connor to say "I told you so!"

Daryl filled Rosalie's glass up again causing her to give him a look "are you trying to get me drunk Dixon"

"Maybe I am" he smirked back, clearly the alcohol was having an affect on both of them. Daryl then turned to Glenn "don't you stop either, I wanna see how red your face can get"

Everyone laughed as Glenn looked down in embarrassment. Rick suddenly stood up tapping his wine glass "it seems like we haven't thanked our host properly"

Daryl stood up and shouted "Booyah!"

Rosalie laughed as she shouted it with everyone else, she could get used to this, there was still that nagging feeling in the back of her mind that something wasn't right but she chose to ignore it, they were having fun for a change and she wanted to make the most of it.

Once the room had quieted down a bit Shane spoke up "so when are you going to tell us what happened here doc?"

Rosalie let out a load groan at her brother causing him to scowl at her while Rick tried to stop him "Shane, we're celebrating, let's not do this now"

"But isn't that why we're here man, to get your answers" he gestured to Jenner "and all we found is him, one man. Why is that?

Jenner looked uncomfortable before answering "when things got bad people decided to head home, be with their families. The rest...they couldn't even face walking out the door, they opted out" he paused seeming to collect himself "there was a rash of suicides"

Jenner got up and left the table and just like that the happy mood had disappeared. Rosalie turned to Shane and glared at him "we were having a nice time Shane, after everything that's happened we deserved that much but no you just had to go ruin it didn't you?"

Shane ignored Rosalie's comment and she was about to snap at him again until she felt a hand squeeze her knee. She looked to her left and saw Daryl shaking his head "no" at her. She decided to calm down not wanting to make the atmosphere anymore awkward than it already was.

Jenner came back in a few minutes later clearing his throat "I better show you where you'll be sleeping then"

They all got up and followed Jenner down a corridor "your rooms are here, most of them have sofa beds. There's a reck room down the hall for you kids, just don't plug in anything that draws power. Same goes for the hot water, go easy on it"

Glenn turned to face everyone "hot water"

"That's what the man said" T-Dog laughed

Everyone started separating off to go into their own rooms as Connor made his way over to Rosalie "hey mum, can I share a room with Carl? Please"

Rosalie laughed "if it's okay with Lori than of course you can"

Connor quickly hugged Rosalie before before running off to go find Carl. Rosalie was stood in the middle of the hallway not knowing where to go, a hand suddenly handed on her back, she turned around to face Daryl

"You uh wanna stay with me, we don't have to share the bed or nothing I'll take the floor and-"

Rosalie quickly cut off his rambling "of course I will Daryl, thank you"

She quickly grabbed his wrist and pulled him into the last empty room at the end of the hallway. The rooms were simple just a sofa, desk a chair and a dresser. Rosalie popped her bag on the dresser and unzipped it taking out everything she would need for her shower.

"I'm gonna go take a shower, you mind setting up the sofa bed while I'm gone" Daryl just nodded at her as she went into the bathroom locking the door behind her. She quickly stripped and got into the shower sighing at how good the warm water felt against her tired muscles. She quickly washed her hair and body remembering what Jenner said about the hot water.

After about 5 minutes she stepped out and wrapped a towel around herself. Looking in the mirror she noticed she was a lot thinner and paler than before, her face looked hollowed due to the lack of food. She quickly brushed her teeth and slipped on her oversized shirt and shorts before heading out the bathroom.

As she came out the bathroom Daryl was sat on the bed sipping at a bottle of whisky, once he saw her he almost chocked. He had never really noticed how pretty she was before and he had to admit that she looked good in those shorts and oversized shirt, he quickly averted his eyes before she caught him staring.

Rosalie saw Daryl sitting on the bed drinking whisky and quickly jumped on the bed beside him grabbing the bottle and taking a sip.

"Hey woman give that back!" Daryl reached for the bottle but Rosalie held it away from him.

"Only if you play a game with me" she smiled at him "20 questions"

"Nah" Rosalie glared at him "fine! You win woman but not for long"

"Deal, okay I'll go first" she thought for a minute "what's your favourite colour?"

"Well that's not so bad, green"

"Mines red" she then passed the bottle to Daryl

"How did you learn to hunt?"

"My dad thought me, I was never really into the girly stuff, let's just say mum wasn't that pleased that I liked hunting more than make-up"

Daryl passed the bottle back to her as she asked him "what about you? Why did you get into hunting"

He shrugged "I dunno just came to me naturally I guess, I always enjoyed being out in the woods it helped me escape from all the shit in the world"

"What did you want to escape from?" She said passing the bottle back to him,

He took a sip before mumbling "nothin'"

Seeing that she'd hit a sore spot she decided to move on. The next 20 minutes were filled with them asking each other questions like, what's your favourite film?, favourite book? What were you like as a kid?. All pointless questions as they passed the whiskey back and forth. That was until Rosalie decided to ask him the question she'd been dying too

"So Daryl, why were you staring so intently at me when I came out the shower" this time Daryl did actually choke on his drink, he was panicking because he thought she hasn't seen him staring. He turned to face her and found that she was already looking at him and there eyes locked.

As soon as their eyes locked Rosalie couldn't look away, she was drowning in a sea of blue . She didn't know what came over, it was most likely the alcohol but at the moment she didn't care. The next thing she knew she was leaning in until their lips were touching.

Daryl almost stopped breathing when her lips touched his, he couldn't believe this was happening and in his alcohol induced state he decided to kiss her back. The kiss was soft and tender both unsure and nervous, the alcohol in their systems had clearly taken hold if they were sober they definitely would not have the courage to do this.

Rosalie slowly pulled away from Daryl looking him in the eyes and giving him a small smile before she rested her head on his shoulder.

"You're a great guy you know that Dixon? Don't listen to what anyone else says because I like you" she whispered the last part before she fell asleep her head still on his shoulder. He looked down at her sleeping face moving a piece of hair out of her eyes

"What are you doing to me woman" he whisper before he too fell into a peaceful sleep, his arm lightly circled around her shoulders.

* * *

 **Note**

 _So Daryl and Rosalie got drunk and kissed, how do you think this will effect their friendship? For people that have read the original chapters of this story this is where some stuff is about to change. Anyway next update will be in a couple of days after I've updated my Merlin story._

 _Thank you to everyone that has followed, favourited and reviewed this story!_

 _Emily X_


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